Business & Transportation: Ride The Rails

Although subways and buses crisscross the borough and are the most common form of public transportation for those living in the borough, they are not the only modes that serve Queens.

Jamaica Station is one of the busiest transit hubs in the county.

The Long Island Rail Road, the nation’s busiest commuter rail line, serves over a quarter-million travelers a day between Manhattan and Montauk. Most of those commuters come from Nassau and Suffolk Counties and use Queens as a viaduct to Manhattan and Brooklyn. The LIRR has 21 stations in the borough, and it’s the only way Queens residents east of Flushing and Jamaica can get around by train.

The Port Washington branch, the only one which does not stop in Jamaica, is a primary mode of transportation for many commuters from Flushing, Auburndale, Bayside, Douglaston and Little Neck, while other stations serve neighborhoods in Southeast Queens such as Bellerose, Hollis and Rosedale. From those stations, the LIRR’s second terminal at Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn is also accessible. Sites on the Port Washington branch include Willets Point station, Citi Field and the U.S. Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open.

Within what the LIRR calls the “City Terminal Zone,” commuters often shell out the extra money at Woodside, Forest Hills and Kew Gardens for what is often a quicker trip into Manhattan than taking the subway.

For more information on exact schedules, call (718) 217-5477 or go to mta.info/lirr